Abuse Royal Commission Gets Former Bishop's Backing

ABC - 7.30
November 12, 2012

www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3631176.htm

[with video]

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Bishop Bill Morris was once chairman of a nationwide policy that set Catholic policy in handling abuse allegations. He also used to be the bishop in Toowoomba in Queensland. He joined me from Brisbane a short time ago.

Bishop Morris, thank you very much for your time.

BILL MORRIS, FORMER BISHOP OF TOOWOOMBA: It's my privilege, Leigh.

LEIGH SALES: What's your view on the Royal commission that the Prime Minister's announced?

BILL MORRIS: I'm very happy that she has gone down this line because I think because of this most important question with regards to the vulnerable people in our community, the children, I think if we're going to get to the bottom of all that's happened in this context, say, of child sexual abuse, in all areas, then I think the Royal commission is the way to go.

LEIGH SALES: Does the broad focus of this Royal commission into all institutions that have children in their care in any way reduce its authority or cause problems because of the lack of focus?

BILL MORRIS: No, I think the focus needs to be wide because if we don't have a wide focus, if the commission doesn't have a wide focus, then in a coupla years' time, this question's gonna pop up in other areas and we're going to have to have another commission; whereas in fact, if the commission has this wide focus, then it will answer the important questions that it's asking.

LEIGH SALES: Last week detective inspector Peter Fox, a New South Wales policeman who's investigated abuse by the clergy for decades, said that he had irrefutable evidence that the Catholic Church, "... covers up, silences victims, hinders police investigations, alerts offenders, destroys evidence and moves priests to protect the good name of the Church." Do you believe that the Church has been guilty of such things?

BILL MORRIS: Leigh, that saddens me when I heard that. I am not aware of all those things that he said. I am aware of the fact that we've made mistakes, we're frightened and sometimes we're fearful of, say, addressing this question, we put forward, say, Towards Healing to address it. And I think we've gone down a long way to address these questions. But, you know, if he's asking this and he has evidence, well then this evidence needs to be put out there and it needs to be seen and if it takes a Royal commission to do that, well so be it.

LEIGH SALES: Do you think that the Prime Minister's right when she says in a lot of cases adults haven't - not only the people who've abused children, but other adults have let them down by not doing something about it?

BILL MORRIS: I think so. I think it's a question that sometimes people don't know how to handle. Because they don't know how to handle it, they don't do anything or they're frightened or they're fearful and they won't come forward and so on. So I think a commission will be able, say, to look at these questions, will have the authority to do so and will be able to come up, say, with suggestions and with a guideline to help, say, us as a community to become stronger and to much more focus, say, on protecting our children.

LEIGH SALES: What do you think of Cardinal Pell's view that the abuse stories are largely historic and that they're not part of a systemic failing in the Church?

BILL MORRIS: Well unfortunately, Leigh, I had to deal a coupla years ago with abuse cases within the Toowoomba Diocese of a teacher with regards to, say, a number of girls, say, within recent history. So, it is still happening, it is still happening and it's also happening, say, across our communities. And there are historical questions too, but sexual abuse is still happening and we need to kinda find out why and how we can address it.

LEIGH SALES: I also wanted to ask you about a comment that Archbishop Pell made on the weekend where he said regarding abusive priests that back in the days when the abuse was at its worst, they were entitled to think of paedophilia as simply a sin that you could repent of. Is that accurate? Was there a time where priests thought that they were entitled to think of it as just a sin like any other?

BILL MORRIS: Um, I think probably there was, historically. I think as a community of people, I think as a community we didn't really know how to deal with it and I think probably because we didn't know how to deal with it, we swept it under the carpet and didn't, say, do what we should've done and address it at the time.

LEIGH SALES: Does the Church even today have a priority in the way that it handles these cases to protect the Church's reputation foremost?

BILL MORRIS: Well it does. Over recent years, I mentioned the program Towards Healing. And we developed that, say, way back in the mid-'90s and over that period of time we've used Towards Healing. Sometimes it's not the perfect program and it's not a perfect process, but when it is used, it does, say, bring healing into victims' lives and it does address, say, these difficult problems. But oftentimes it's not used correctly, and if it's not used correctly, well then the answers and the way victims are dealt with isn't done right.

LEIGH SALES: Bishop William Morris, thank you so much for making time to speak to us.

BILL MORRIS: Leigh, it's my privilege and thank you very much.

LEIGH SALES: And Australia's most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has just put out a statement in which he says, "I welcome the Prime Minister's announcement. I believe the air should be cleared and the truth uncovered. We shall cooperate fully with the Royal commission." We've also invited Cardinal Pell onto the program. He's declined so far, but we'll keep trying.